Senior Fellow in Ethics and Writing D.M. Aderibigbe’s 82nd Division, which won the National Poetry Series in 2024, was published by Akashic Books. Since its release, it has been reviewed by Literary Hub and received a starred review in Booklist.

Professor Franz Nicolay reviewed Burning Down the House by Jonathan Gould, a new book about the band The Talking Heads, for the Wall Street Journal. www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

Bard is proud to be included on the list of US colleges and universities that produced the most 2025–26 Fulbright US Students. Maia Cluver ’22,Oskar Pezalla-Granlund ’24, Grace Molinaro ’24, and Cecilia Giancola ’25 all received awards for the upcoming academic year.

The Fisher Center at Bard has announced SummerScape 2026, from June 25 to August 16. This year’s edition of the summer-long festival features work by Lucinda Childs, Courtney Bryan, and more.

Professor Felicia Keesing has been elected a fellow of the British Ecological Society for her outstanding contributions to ecology through research, teaching, leadership, policy, and the practical application of ecological science.

The acclaimed The Sound of Spring Chinese New Year Concert returns for its seventh edition on February 14 and 15 at the Fisher Center at Bard College and at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City.

Tania El Khoury, Bard professor and director of the Center for Human Rights and the Arts, has won a 2026 Creative Capital Award in support of her project, A Choreography of State Violence, an installation performance that examines state violence from a choreographic perspective.

Beginning February 3, Bard College is accepting applications for its first Spanish-speaking Clemente Course, a free college-level introduction to the humanities. Tuition and books are provided, and those who successfully complete the semester-long course will earn 3 college credits.

Professor Abhinav Prem received a two-year research award from the US Department of Energy to make quantum computers more reliable, in collaboration with professor Stephan Haas at the University of Southern California. Bard is the lead institution and recipient of $300,006 of the $500,000 award.

Important Weather Announcement Dutchess County has issued a local emergency order due to winter weather conditions beginning Sunday, January 25, at 5 am through Monday, January 26, at 5 pm. No classes will be held Monday, January 26. For more information, visit go.bard.edu/winterstorm.

“Between Water and Sky,” an upcoming exhibition by Sikena Khadija ’27 of photographs and video focused on the Erie Canal and Hudson River, was profiled in the Daily Freeman. The exhibit is hosted at Kingston’s DRAW Gallery until February 24.

Beginning February 3, Bard College is accepting applications for its first Spanish-speaking Clemente Course, a free college-level introduction to the humanities. Tuition and books are provided, and those who successfully complete the semester-long course will earn 3 college credits.

Visiting Professor Adam Shatz was awarded the 2026 Grace Dudley Prize for Arts Writing by the Robert B. Silvers Foundation, in recognition of outstanding achievement in critical writing on the fine and performing arts or cultural history.

We welcome the successful completion by Bard College @bardcollege.bsky.social of a landmark endowment challenge first issued in 2021 by our founder George Soros.

Bard College is pleased to announce the completion of its landmark endowment challenge. Bard is grateful to the @open-society.bsky.social and the many donors whose support matched the original $500 million commitment, establishing the College’s first endowment.

A study led by Professor Gidon Eshel was featured in the New York Times in an article exploring whether grass-fed beef was better for climate. The study, published last March in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that grass-fed beef had no emissions benefit over grain-fed.

Professor An-My Lê’s upcoming installation was covered in Palm Springs Life Magazine. The installation, opening this January, is focused on the California desert sky at nighttime and is part of her series Dark Star, which she continues as a High Desert Test Sites fellow.

Ian Bostridge, the musical scholar who gave the last Anthony Hecht Lectures in the Humanities at Bard, wrote about Bard’s excellence and commitment to the liberal arts for Prospect magazine. At Bard, “there are no compromises on the centrality of the humanities to a proper education,” he writes.

Congratulations to Bard alumni/ae Sula Bermudez-Silverman ’15, Cooper Jacoby ’11, and Jordan Strafer MFA ’20, who are among the 56 artists and collectives selected to participate in this year’s Whitney Biennial, the 82nd installment of the longest-running survey of contemporary art in the US.

Congratulations to Bard alumni/ae Sula Bermudez-Silverman ’15, Cooper Jacoby ’11, and Jordan Strafer MFA ’20, who are among the 56 artists and collectives selected to participate in this year’s Whitney Biennial, the 82nd installment of the longest-running survey of contemporary art in the US.

The Charles P. Stevenson Jr. Library at Bard has been accepted into the National Digital Stewardship Alliance, a collective committed to the long-term preservation of digital information. Membership recognizes Bard's commitment to the long-term stewardship and accessibility of digital collections.

Professors Miriam Felton-Dansky and Drew Thompson received 2025 Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grants. Felton-Dansky received the award for her article “Vetting Regimes,” and Thompson for his book "Coloring Surveillance through Polaroids: The Poetics of Black Solidarity and Sociality."

Choreographer Arthur Aviles ’87 was awarded a fellowship from Dance/USA, a support organization that advocates for an inclusive and equitable dance world. “[These awardees] reimagine how we connect, care and build community,” said Ashley Ferro-Murray, program director of the Doris Duke Foundation.

Professors Miriam Felton-Dansky and Drew Thompson received 2025 Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grants. Felton-Dansky received the award for her article “Vetting Regimes,” and Thompson for his book "Coloring Surveillance through Polaroids: The Poetics of Black Solidarity and Sociality."

Anne Bogart ’74 was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame, the only nationally recognized hall of fame honoring lifetime achievement in American theater. Bogart, who is a professor at Columbia, studied drama and dance at Bard and received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from the College in 2014.

Four Bard College faculty members have received grants from the New York State Council on the Arts for 2026. Support for Artists grants were awarded to Mara Baldwin, Tania El Khoury, Jacqueline Goss, and Gwen Marie Laster to recognize their impact on New York arts and culture.

Composer Prokhor Protasov MM-Conducting ’20 won the Peace Symphony Concours, a conducting award conferred by County Hall Arts for a musical representation of humanity’s quest for global peace. “I am deeply grateful for County Hall Arts’ trust and for the extraordinary opportunity," Protasov said.

Four Bard College faculty members have received grants from the New York State Council on the Arts for 2026. Support for Artists grants were awarded to Mara Baldwin, Tania El Khoury, Jacqueline Goss, and Gwen Marie Laster to recognize their impact on New York arts and culture.

For the Public Service Review, run by the Stennis Center for Public Service, Sierra Ford ’26 wrote “Bard College's Battle for the Ballot Box: A Story of an Institution's Pursuit for Democracy,” an article about the history of student voter participation at the College.

Dinaw Mengestu, director of the Written Arts Program at Bard, was elected president of @penamerica.bsky.social, where he hopes to bolster programs worldwide promoting free expression. ”If there’s a moment when we can’t become a purely internal organization, it’s now,” Mengestu told the @nytimes.com.

The critically acclaimed novelist Dinaw Mengestu has been elected to the presidency of PEN America, the 103-year-old writers organization whose mission is to celebrate literature and defend freedom of expression. More: pen.org/press-releas...

Francine Prose, distinguished writer in residence at Bard, published an article in the Guardian in defense of Bard Baccalaureate student Ali Faqirzada ’28. Ali was detained by ICE on October 14 just after he had been found to have a viable claim for asylum.

The New York Times remembered architect Frank Gehry, designer of the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, as “one of the most formidable and original talents in the history of American architecture” in its announcement of Gehry's death last week at the age of 96.

Assistant Professor and CCS Luma Fellow Lara Fresko Madra published an essay on research-based artist Hande Sever’s solo exhibition at REDCAT in the Los Angeles Review of Books. “[These] photographs variously juxtapose scenes of deterioration, overgrowth, development, and progress,” Madra writes.

The Organic Chemistry class @bardcollege.bsky.social will be submitting their brackets this evening. We are partial to the Grignard reaction! #ACSOrganic #amplifyorganic

Congratulations to the 10 students on the Bard College women’s and men’s soccer teams who were honored as members of the 2025 College Sports Communicators Division III Academic All-District At-Large Team. The award recognizes top student-athletes for their performance on the field and in class.

PEN America and @bardcollege.bsky.social announce the launch of Kronika, a new digital platform designed to safeguard journalism globally and ensure that the historical record cannot be obliterated by censorship. More: pen.org/press-releas...

Professor Roosevelt Montás laid out his vision for a reinvigorated general education—a vision that will be expressed through the new Chang Chavkin Center for Liberal Education and Civic Life at Bard College—in an article for the Chronicle of Higher Education.

We are deeply saddened by the passing of Frank Gehry (1929 – 2025), architect of the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College. We owe him an incalculable debt of gratitude, and will honor his memory for as long as live performance flourishes at the Fisher Center.

An essay by Professor Drew Thompson, “Envisioning Liberation: A Brief History of PhotoBooks in Mozambique,” appeared in the book Generalized Visual Resistance: Photobooks and Liberation Movements, which was featured in the Paris Photo–Aperture 2025 PhotoBook Awards.

For @theguardian.com, Distinguished Writer in Residence Francine Prose wrote about the ongoing detention of Ali Faqirzada ’28, arguing for his release and return to Bard to continue his studies.

The Fisher Center at Bard College received the 2025 Destination Dutchess Award of Distinction for Accessibility. The award recognizes events or attractions that go beyond just ADA compliance, providing “exceptional, welcoming experiences for travelers with disabilities.”

Thank you everyone who joined us from around the world at the re/presentare webinar “Reframing Evidence for the Commons”. For those who missed it, we have published the entire talk online. vimeo.com/chrabard/rep...

My Town, a semi-autobiographical show written by Bard Assistant Professor Jack Ferver, was reviewed in the New York Times, calling it “a feat of constant storytelling and choreography.”

A Bard College Music Program faculty member and three Conservatory of Music alumni/ae have been nominated for the 2026 GRAMMY Awards. Gwen Laster, visiting artist in residence, Devony Smith VAP ’14, Julia Bullock VAP ’11, and Eri Nakamura CPF ’15 received nominations.

BHSEC Bronx received a $215,000 investment from New York State. The funding is part of the Vision 32: Empowering the Bronx Initiative introduced by Senator Luis R. Sepúlveda, which promotes capital investment in infrastructure and programmatic support in his district.

The Center for Curatorial Studies (CCS Bard) and Bard College’s Human Rights Project are pleased to announce that multidisciplinary artist and professor Carlos Motta will hold the Keith Haring Chair in Art and Activism for 2025–26.

Congratulations to Professor Anne Hunnell Chen, who received the 2025 Award for Outstanding Professional Advancing Open Access to Cultural Heritage from Wikimedia. They recognized the importance of her work, “when the organizations that helped fund this work are currently being severely defunded.”

Bard VP Jonathan Becker coauthored an article with Yael Bromberg in @theNation.com about strategies for consensus-building to increase youth voter turnout and Becker’s new book Youth Voting Rights: Civil Rights, the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, and the Fight for American Democracy on College Campuses.

The MBA in Sustainability at Bard College has been ranked the top MBA globally for Impact in 2025 by Corporate Knights’ “Better World MBA” rankings evaluating 179 programs in terms of sustainability, which focusesf on the impact schools’ alumni have after graduation.